Are American Corvettes popular in the UK and Ireland?

Question

I am planning to'immigrate' to Ireland, from the USA and I was wondering if corvettes were popular in Ireland as much as they are over here?

What are excellent road machines for long distance road trips in Ireland?



Any information provided will help me to determine whether or not I take my ride with me or sell it here, and buy a vehicle in Ireland, instead!

Thank you in advance for your support...!

There are so many great answers to this one question that I may be forced to put this question up for a vote., maybe not though!

Answer 1

There are very few Corvettes in the UK and Ireland.
Total new registrations last year were 1 in Ireland and 12 in the UK, while in the first six months of this year it is zero in Ireland, and 30 in the UK.

The Corvette is too wide for many roads in Ireland (both country lanes and city streets), and too expensive to run with high fuel prices and high taxes. It's suspension would also be a bit stiff and limited in travel for the rougher Irish roads. It would be fine on the motorways, but then you won't see much of the Irish scenery, and be limited in where you can go.

You can't really do any American style long distance road trips in Ireland - north to south is about 350 miles, so easily doable in a day.
But why bother when you can take the more scenic roads, and enjoy the trip by making it last a week.

In order to enjoy the scenery, you'll need something narrower, preferably with a higher seating position to see over the hedges, and probably a diesel engine (diesel fuel is cheaper than petrol (gasoline) and just as widely available). An Opel Astra 1.7CDTi would be ideal (not too wide, quick enough, economic, widely available). If you really must have something with more image and performance, try a BMW 330d.

Answer 2

Nope. You won't get many Corvettes in Erin's Green Isle.

If you have the moolah then it's hard to go past a C-Class Merc or a BMW M3 or M5. The new Audi A5 is worth a look too.

Roads have improved here (donkeys no longer dominate as the preferred mode of transportation) and motorways are springing up all over the country. But even at that you'd probably be best to leave your left-hand drive Corvette at home since we (tend to) drive on the left here which is the right side of course! ;)

Just make sure you take plenty of pictures of the Corvette for your grandchildren before you sell it though!

Answer 3

First up; there won't be many long distance road trips in Ireland as it's an island and not that big!
Secondly American cars aren't very popular in the UK due to the following factors:
1. They tend to be enormous and don't fit down our country lanes.
2. They tend to have enourmous capacity engines in them, drink fuel like it's going out of fashion and yet still only return the same performance as a smaller engined European or Asian car.
3. The "American way" of making a sports car, such as a Corvette, seems to be to fit an even more ridiculously oversized engine in it and totally remove the suspension. You may not have many corners in the States but we do, and we value the way a car corners.
4. Petrol costs about 4 times as much in the UK as it does in the US, so we can't afford to run cars that return 8mpg.
5. Finally, most American cars are brutally ugly.

Sorry if you're offended by any of the above but, hey, you asked! :)

Answer 4

Corvettes are good cars, no denying that; but I have only ever seen 1 over here in my entire life.

The roads in Ireland have lots of bends in them as well, so you would have a hard time steering a 'Vet around them, let alone the fuel consumption with a 5.7 litre V8 - fuel is also quite expensive, up to £1 ($2) per litre in the UK and around €1.17 ($1.6) in Ireland.

Watch out for the insurance in the UK and Ireland as well because it costs a fortune to insure a left hand drive car.

I would sell it there and get a smaller car in Ireland, you can get a good sports car for the price you would get for the Corvette.

Answer 5

get a diesel car, if you want to travel around Ireland. Petrol cost €1.17 a litre at the moment, and is rising.
Also in Ireland you are taxed on the size of your engine. My car is a little 1 litre so tax for the year is €151. , but a 1.4 litre, the tax is nearly €200.
Also if you bring a car into Ireland, there is a vehicle registration tax...hope you understand, we are taxed for EVERYTHING, and depending on the age and value of the car ,but the VRT, can be up to €5k....

Get a diesel car, with good suspension and an engine less than 2 litres.
Your corvette will get a few looks, but the cost of shipping and tax will soon have you pissed off with it.
the only American cars here, really are Fords, and they have a reputation for poor electrics and using up fuel quickly.

Answer 6

There aren't many American cars in the UK, it's a widely held belief that american cars don't drive very well, and are designed for long straight roads, and don't handle well on the narrow twisting roads we have in the UK. if you do decide to bring it with you the cost of importing it may be more than it would cost to get a new car once here! but you could probably count on it being a rare site in whichever town you move to (with the possible exception of a big city like London)

Answer 7

Got to smile and agree, but remember if you want help from British Telecom you will be directed to a small office in New Delhi. Pay peanuts and you employ? Quite like our American cousins being here or are we on Yahoo USA? Does create a few linguistic barriers though. A chip is a crisp unless it's in a PC or a chip is a fry unless it's in a PC and two potatoes equal?

Answer 8

Nothing American is popular in the Uk or Ireland.

Answer 9

To be honest, I don't think you'd enjoy driving your 'vette over here, or paying about $8 per gallon for gas!
On the upside, if it's a new-ish model, or a 'classic' old one, it may be worth the shipping cost to sell it when you get here. Even a mid-70s Stingray goes for £6-10K if it's in good condition, & if it's an '06 model Z06, it'll be worth serious money!
There is an enthusiastic market for Yank cars in the U.K. & spares for a 'vette would be no problem.

Answer 10

no, the price of petrol here is €1.18 a litre, that approx $1.60, so we go for smaller cars, as the roads are not that great, and the cars are cheaper to run. Long distance driving does not exist, you can get from one end of the country to the other in 6 hours, and how often would you do that

Most of the cars are not automatics either (I know I'd be confused trying to drive one), so sell it there, and get yourself a little runaround here.